We talk to AMD‘s Marketing VP, Pat Moorhead about the Smart House “portal” they had set up at CES. In contrast to our last post, they were much more open this time and let me ask just about any questions I asked, including questions about their roadmap and some very cool details about their new “Black” edition, incredibly overclocker-friendly CPU. We also learn more about their mobile device chipset and hear that we’ll be able to output HD content from cell phones and other mobile devices running on ATI chips within the next year or so, straight to an HDTV. Cool stuff.

Today’s tween girls are a huge market, and Merkury Innovations Fashionation line is just for them. Their iPod cases, star-shaped speakers and more come in neon and other cool colors, and many of the cases have embedded rhinestones for that bling factor.

We chat with AMD‘s Pat Moorhead, this time talking from their Smart House about their involvement in gaming systems like the Xbox 360 and NintendoWii, and their new quad-Crossfire capable Radeon offerings.

The Motorola Q9h is a smartphone with Windows Mobile 6 and has seven dedicated keys for your most used applications, and a sensor that allows you to view what’s on your phone regardless of lighting conditions. Coming later this year.

Have a small business? Got signs and televisions in your retail space? Westinghouse wants to give you the best of both worlds with their DSB - Digital Signage in a Box. The Linux-based system integrates digital signage with television, allowing small business owners to promote and entertain at the same time.

The 1080p display is optimized to show signage that is fully customizable using only a keyboard and mouse plugged into the unit - no computer required. The ads can be programmed on a timeline of the user’s choosing and can be placed anywhere on the screen to optimize their impact.

Westinghouse will be releasing the DSB in the second quarter of this year, at a price point that is yet to be determined.

Check the video above for details on Samsung‘s new 2263DX dual monitor setup. The 2263DX features a large display much like the standard displays computer users interact with every day, but also includes a smaller secondary monitor which is mounted on an arm allowing it to be placed above the main monitor or too either of the sides. This secondary monitor allows for short bits of information to be viewed at a glance. Windows sideshow, email account summaries, web video conferencing and other information that is useful to have displayed at all times are ideal for this monitor as they do not take up valuable working real-estate from the main monitor. The main monitor features standard DVI, VGA, and HDMI connections, but to simplify connection the smaller monitor is connected via USB and contains a miniature USB video card.

When going to CES one expects a rough week involving countless interviews, hour after hour of writing, and defending oneself from PR reps from round the world. One thing you don’t expect is to get the living daylights shocked out of you. First and foremost, watch the video above for a chance to see me get tasered. After all, it’s hard to pass up an opportunity to see some poor sot get tasered - particularly when they signed themself up for it (full waiver and everything).

Oh yeah, a bit of background - we didn’t go for the ‘shock treatment’ but rather went to check out Tasers new MPH or Music Playing Holster. With this faux-leather device one can carry their original, pink, or leopard skin taser in style and listen to 1GB of tunes at the same time. It doesn’t fully make sense to us, but the Taser company claims this makes it an ideal exercise companion for those jogs through the seedy underbelly of your favorite big city.

At CES 2008, AMD‘s Phil Hester gave us a look at what “accelerated computing” means. AMD is in a unique position with their acquisition of ATi that allows them to fuse the CPU and GPU into one chip, which could potentially provide for an unparalleled computing experience, especially when it comes to gaming.

Design nerds unite - the Dell Crystal monitor, which is available now, could change the way people think of monitors altogether. Combining great design and great functionality, the Crystal is a 22” solid tempered glass monitor with built in speakers with a maximum resolution of 1680x1050 (um, what?!) and a 2 millisecond response time.

The Crystal features five capacitive touch controls, four speakers, a 2 megapixel webcam and a microphone integrated so well that they’re virtually unnoticeable at first glance. It’s mounted on a metal tripod and features a single cable with the connections for power, USB, subwoofer out, and the DVI/HDMI with HDCP.

The CES Engineering & Design Award winning Dell Crystal is available now for $1199.